BAGUIO City Mayor Benjamin Magalong remains unfazed by the bashing he received on social media over class suspension declarations the past days.
Magalong said he will not sacrifice the suspension of classes, valuing the importance of education and the school days allotted for students.
"As much as possible, we will maximize the number of school days. I cannot sacrifice that. They cannot force me to stop classes kahit na... I believe they have to go to class. I will not do it," Magalong added.
He said on the height of heavy rains brought by habagat on August 13 and 14, he had been waking up at dawn just to check on the weather condition and whether it is necessary to suspend classes.
He said he does not read the comments castigating him over class suspensions, adding the comments have not bothered him.
"We cannot sacrifice your education, kaya nga pinilili ko lang kung ano klase [levels] i- suspend ko," he said.
Magalong said he castigated the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel for asking him to decide on a class suspension without giving data to back the decision.
He said he has been getting calls to decide on class suspensions but he had to find basis for the declaration.
"I admonished them already. I am asking for data," Magalong said, adding that forecasts, amount of rain in the next 12 hours, as well as recommendations from the CDRRMC should be given to help chief executives decide on declaration better and more efficiently.
Magalong said he has also taken the matter with the Office of the Civil Defense and Department of Science and Technology, stressing weather bureau forecasts do not help decision-makers in times of bad weather.
"It is not enough for a mayor to come up with a decision on class suspensions. It's not helping me, and I need more technical data," he said.